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DSI Newsletters, Issue 31:
What You Need to Know About...
Lifestyle Changes to Lower Heart Disease Risk
A Patient's Guide: The Emerging Science of Lipid Management

Exercise Made Easy
 When your doctor suggests you should make "lifestyle changes" to lower your risk of heart disease, don't worry. That doesn't mean you have to completely change the way you live. The truth is, one simple change may be all it takes: Start moving!
 Simply by increasing the amount of time you move each day, you can significantly reduce your chances of having a heart attack. In fact, if you start moving now, your risk goes down even more than it would for regular runners who increase their distance by a few miles a day!
 Most people who are sedentary; that is, who don't get any exercise, will see benefits just from doing some kind of movement for 30 minutes a day more than they did before. In just a half hour per day (or at least on most days of the week), you'll take yourself out of the highest-risk category for heart disease.
 If you can't do 30 minutes all at once, try doing five or ten minutes at a time, three to six times a day. You'd be surprised at ways you can add movement to your day in little pieces. For instance, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Park your car farther away from the mall entrance. Walk around the block at lunchtime. The benefits of movement add up, no matter how long you do it.
I'm taking medicine to lower my cholesterol. Do I still have to exercise?
 Yes. Medicine may lower your cholesterol, and you should take it as directed by your doctor. But medicine is not a substitute for exercise. Exercise does a lot of other good things to protect your heart.

Rewards for Getting Off the Couch
 Exercising a total of 30 minutes a day (all at once or in small increments) on most days each week can:
  1. lower your weight and blood pressure
  2. help lower cholesterol (but is not a substitute for prescribed cholesterol-lowering medicine)
  3. improve your blood sugar levels
  4. reduce inflammation of your blood vessels (a cause of heart disease)
  5. improve blood flow
  6. help keep your blood vessels flexible
  7. help keep your heart beating steadily
  8. help prevent the formation of blood clots that could cause a heart attack
  9. make you feel stronger and healthier
Is Exercise All I Need?
 Other lifestyle changes can make a big difference in your heart disease risk. If you smoke, stop. If you are overweight, talk to your doctor about strategies for loosing weight. But, the more you move each day, the healthier you will be.
Exercise's Partner: Weight Loss
 Being overweight or obese is a serious risk to your health. Losing weight is like exercise: a little goes a long "weigh." Losing as few as ten or even five pounds lowers your risk of heart disease even more than it would for a person of normal weight.

How Obesity Hurts You. Obesity...
  1. increases your levels of harmful cholesterol
  2. increases TG (triglycerides, a type of blood fat or bad cholesterol)
  3. makes it harder for your body to use insulin
  4. raises your risk of high blood pressure
  5. makes your heart work harder
  6. causes potentially serious breathing problems, especially at night
  7. increases your chance of getting diabetes, stroke, and certain cancers
No matter what diet I try, I gain back the weight I lost.
 The best thing you can do to succeed in your diet is to get up and start moving regularly. Losing weight is based on a simple fact: If you burn more energy (calories) than you take in, you can lose weight. Excellent nutrition information is available free at the American Heart Association Web site (www.AmericanHeart.org). The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Web site (www.NHLBI.NIH.gov) provides information about cholesterol and a free calculator that tells you whether you’re overweight.
Do I have to avoid eating foods that contain cholesterol?
 Try to limit foods rich in cholesterol, such as eggs, and also limit foods rich in saturated fat, such as red meat, since both can increase your LDL ("bad or lousy") cholesterol. Simple carbohydrates (bread and potatoes) increase blood molecules called TG (triglycerides), which raise your risk of diabetes. Remember the "fat-free" foods can be misleading; they are often high in sugar, which turns into fat in your body. So, what's a good diet? An overall balanced diet with lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains, and at least two servings of fish per week. Plenty of good information can be found at: http://www.drugstudy.md/patient1.html.
 Remember, if you're taking a cholesterol medication, eating a diet high in saturated fat actually works against your medication by raising your "bad" cholesterol.

 So, in conclusion, the best way for you to lower your heart attack risk starting today is to make four basic lifestyle changes:
  1. Eat a well-balanced diet low in cholesterol, fat and calories and high in complex carbohydrates and protein. Drink plenty of water and slowly but steadily increase the amount fiber in your diet.
  2. Stop smoking, or better yet, don't start.
  3. Lose some weight.
  4. And, start moving!